Wideband Beamforming With Rainbow Beam Training Using Reconfigurable True-Time-Delay Arrays for Millimeter-Wave Wireless [Feature]

The decadal research in integrated true-time-delay arrays have seen organic growth enabling realization of wideband beamformers for large arrays with wide aperture widths. This article introduces highly reconfigurable delay elements implementable at analog or digital baseband that enables multiple Spatial Signal Processing (SSP) functions including wideband beamforming, wideband interference cancellation, and fast beam training. Details of the beam-training algorithm, system design considerations, system architecture and circuits with large delay range-to-resolution ratios are presented leveraging integrated delay compensation techniques. The article lays out the framework for true-time-delay based arrays in next-generation network infrastructure supporting 3D beam training in planar arrays, low latency massive multiple access, and emerging wireless communications standards.